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Despite rising military spending worldwide, not all states are following the trend in militarisation. Whilst certain countries—particularly in Europe—are substantially expanding their armed forces, the relative allocation of state resources to the military sector is stagnating or even declining in countries elsewhere—measured against civilian benchmarks such as economic output, population size or health spending. The Global Militarisation Index (GMI) 2025 thus reaffirms the uneven nature of global armament dynamics.

At the regional level, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) remain the world's most militarised regions. South America and Sub-Saharan Africa, by contrast, continue to rank among the least militarised—even where they experience high levels of violent conflict and state fragility. The GMI 2025 once again underlines that armed conflict need not go hand in hand with high militarisation. Low militarisation is not always the result of deliberate disarmament; it frequently reflects weak state capacity that is no longer able to contain societal conflict effectively.

In most countries financial resources are the central driver of high levels of militarisation. Military personnel, by contrast, plays a subordinate role in most cases. Countries tend to rank highest in the GMI where population size is relatively small. Conversely, large populations and strong economic output reduce the level of militarisation, even where defence budgets dwarf those of all other nations. Ukraine—which has topped the GMI since the outbreak of war—is a case apart. Alongside exceptionally high military expenditure, military personnel also play a central role. Ukraine's high level of militarisation reflects a comprehensive mobilisation and war economy that, since Russia's war of aggression, has absorbed a very substantial share of state resources.